BoxRec

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) is still undecided on what he intends to do next.

Brook is facing a looming deadline to make a mandatory defense against undefeated Olympian Errol Spence (21-0, 18 KOs).

The Sheffield fighter has been out of the ring since last September's big showdown with middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. Brook jumped up by two weight divisions to challenge Golovkin for his collection of 160 belts. He performed much better than many had expected, but suffered a fractured orbital bone and was stopped in the fifth round.

The fight Brook really wants is not Spence. He wants a high profile domestic showdown with Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs).

Because of his tough struggles to make the welterweight limit, there is even the possibility that Brook will vacate his title and jump up to 154-pounds - but he prefers to stay at 147 to defend his hard-earned title.

"I know I have a mandatory with Errol Spence. He's a very talented fighter but not really heard of in the UK or even America, but we all know he can fight. It's hard to get up for guys like this, because he doesn't have the name yet. I want the big money fights if I'm going to make 147 pounds," Brook told ESPN.

I get what Brook is saying, but where was this lack of motivation when he was feasting on the corpses that were No No Dan, Frankie Gavin & Kevin Bizier?

OK, I can concur that St Errol isn't that well known in the UK, but apart from Gavin, were the other 2 Walking Dead opponents he fought well known in the UK?

I understand he wants to make more money, but at the same time what he is doing to Spence is pretty shitty. Holding the belt hostage still when Khan made it very clear he doesn't want to fight him next? I just hope Spence's team has a plan B in place, because it is obvious Brook is ready to duck, and vacate. The weight cut is hard for him, but it is just as hard for Spence.

SyntaxError you hit the nail on the head, how much more well known were Bizer, JoJoDan, and Gavin? Lame excuse.

You know what's sad, Jessie Vargas in his 3 fights at welterweight (2 of them losses to both Pacquiao and Bradley) has already fought better competition than Brook's entire welterweight resume

Brook needs to make his mind up, he only wants big fights at 147, either Khan or Pacman. Everyone is telling him to move to 154.

Like Hearn said, if Haymon wins purse bids for Spence, Brook can go to US and be very rich with a split of 75-25..

All of a sudden he thinks he's a big draw, he's 30, he only won his first world title 3 years ago.. Said he worked his whole career for the IBF title, he should've worked faster, less domestic and intercontinental fights and more eliminators. Why not want big fights when he initially won the IBF title?

Badhusker wrote:I understand he wants to make more money, but at the same time what he is doing to Spence is pretty shitty. Holding the belt hostage still when Khan made it very clear he doesn't want to fight him next? I just hope Spence's team has a plan B in place, because it is obvious Spence is ready to duck, and vacate. The weight cut is hard for him, but it is just as hard for Spence.

SyntaxError you hit the nail on the head, how much more well known were Bizer, JoJoDan, and Gavin? Lame excuse.

You mean Brook? lol

Yes the weight cut is hard, he said he has struggling for ages, but still worked his way to win the IBF title. Spence walks around same weight as Brook, and has fought over the 147 limit many times in his career. So, it's true the weight cut should be equally hard for each of them.

It's a three way dodge - neither Spence Haymon or Brook really want the fight - the duck is mutually beneficial for all three but not for the fans - Guarantee both Spence and Brook beat up on handpicked patsies in their next fights so they both win because they will have scored an easy $ win and then can go on to the next payday -

In the previous eras we would get Spence vs Brook and it's an interesting fight but now in the era of protection and business decisions interesting fights like Spence vs Brook just don't happen - Thank Floyd and Haymon for ushering in the careful protection and smart business decisions era -

Here we have a great fight naturally set up but none of the particular parties related to the fight want it to happen - thus it's not going to happen - boxing is all about greed and putting off the best fights to screw the fans and protect the fighters so they can squeeze as many possible paydays out of their careers as they can - The loser of Spence vs Brook would lose A TON OF LEVERAGE and A TON OF CASH ON THEIR FUTURE PAYDAYS

montrealsuper wrote:It's a three way dodge - neither Spence Haymon or Brook really want the fight - the duck is mutually beneficial for all three but not for the fans - Guarantee both Spence and Brook beat up on handpicked patsies in their next fights so they both win because they will have scored an easy $ win and then can go on to the next payday -

Berto is ranked #3

Horn is already fighting Pacman, so I guess if Brook vacates, Spence vs. Berto won't be too bad.

i understand brook. $$$$$ is important and spence is high risk, not much cash. brook should aim for khan, pacquiao, thurman/garcia winner. if he cant get those, than he should take bradley, good money opponent and weak puncher, no problem for him

Brook is pathetic.

Ruthless-RKO wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:It's a three way dodge - neither Spence Haymon or Brook really want the fight - the duck is mutually beneficial for all three but not for the fans - Guarantee both Spence and Brook beat up on handpicked patsies in their next fights so they both win because they will have scored an easy $ win and then can go on to the next payday -

Berto is ranked #3

Horn is already fighting Pacman, so I guess if Brook vacates, Spence vs. Berto won't be too bad.

Berto is a Haymon pawn - he's probably no 3 by design -

Ruthless-RKO wrote:

montrealsuper wrote:It's a three way dodge - neither Spence Haymon or Brook really want the fight - the duck is mutually beneficial for all three but not for the fans - Guarantee both Spence and Brook beat up on handpicked patsies in their next fights so they both win because they will have scored an easy $ win and then can go on to the next payday -

Berto is ranked #3

Horn is already fighting Pacman, so I guess if Brook vacates, Spence vs. Berto won't be too bad.

Berto is a Haymon pawn - he's probably no 3 by design -

Brook is talking like an idiot at the minute

Badhusker wrote:I understand he wants to make more money, but at the same time what he is doing to Spence is pretty shitty. Holding the belt hostage still when Khan made it very clear he doesn't want to fight him next? I just hope Spence's team has a plan B in place, because it is obvious Spence is ready to duck, and vacate. The weight cut is hard for him, but it is just as hard for Spence.

SyntaxError you hit the nail on the head, how much more well known were Bizer, JoJoDan, and Gavin? Lame excuse.

What he's doing to Spence? He was injured, he even said it's not fair to have Errol wait around. The fight wouldn't be until spring anyway.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Badhusker wrote:I understand he wants to make more money, but at the same time what he is doing to Spence is pretty shitty. Holding the belt hostage still when Khan made it very clear he doesn't want to fight him next? I just hope Spence's team has a plan B in place, because it is obvious Spence is ready to duck, and vacate. The weight cut is hard for him, but it is just as hard for Spence.

SyntaxError you hit the nail on the head, how much more well known were Bizer, JoJoDan, and Gavin? Lame excuse.

What he's doing to Spence? He was injured, he even said it's not fair to have Errol wait around. The fight wouldn't be until spring anyway.

Making Spence wait through another extension, after waiting while he fights GGG. Brook is using his 2nd medical extension to negotiate with Khan, who has clearly said he doesn't want the fight. He has no other big fights available, so if he isn't going to fight Spence, vacate so Spence can get another fight lined up. If he waits until the end of his extensions, it will push back Spence's next fight. He says its not fair to have Spence wait around, while he makes him wait around.

Brook is starting to sound delusional like Khan. He thinks he is one of the biggest names in boxing now. Claims he exposed GGG, and lifted GGG off his feet with one punch. Guess I missed that. I saw Brook win one round and run the other four before being stopped. Both him and Khan seem to think being stopped by Canelo and GGG has boosted their standing somehow. Both are delusional.

Badhusker wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Badhusker wrote:I understand he wants to make more money, but at the same time what he is doing to Spence is pretty shitty. Holding the belt hostage still when Khan made it very clear he doesn't want to fight him next? I just hope Spence's team has a plan B in place, because it is obvious Spence is ready to duck, and vacate. The weight cut is hard for him, but it is just as hard for Spence.

SyntaxError you hit the nail on the head, how much more well known were Bizer, JoJoDan, and Gavin? Lame excuse.

What he's doing to Spence? He was injured, he even said it's not fair to have Errol wait around. The fight wouldn't be until spring anyway.

Making Spence wait through another extension, after waiting while he fights GGG. Brook is using his 2nd medical extension to negotiate with Khan, who has clearly said he doesn't want the fight. He has no other big fights available, so if he isn't going to fight Spence, vacate so Spence can get another fight lined up. If he waits until the end of his extensions, it will push back Spence's next fight. He says its not fair to have Spence wait around, while he makes him wait around.

Brook is starting to sound delusional like Khan. He thinks he is one of the biggest names in boxing now. Claims he exposed GGG, and lifted GGG off his feet with one punch. Guess I missed that. I saw Brook win one round and run the other four before being stopped. Both him and Khan seem to think being stopped by Canelo and GGG has boosted their standing somehow. Both are delusional.

Spence wouldn't have fought before spring anyway. He'd rather fight brook than Berto anyway.

I like Brook but he's stuck. It would kill him to make 147 now but I would favour half a dozen Light Middles over him. Or at least equal to him.

A Kahn fight is the best thing for them both.

Taansend wrote:I like Brook but he's stuck. It would kill him to make 147 now but I would favour half a dozen Light Middles over him. Or at least equal to him.

A Kahn fight is the best thing for them both.

It feels like it should be the only money fight left out there for Khan. Brook has other options, but as you mentioned they'd be more dangerous for him.

Badhusker wrote:
Making Spence wait through another extension, after waiting while he fights GGG. Brook is using his 2nd medical extension to negotiate with Khan, who has clearly said he doesn't want the fight. He has no other big fights available, so if he isn't going to fight Spence, vacate so Spence can get another fight lined up. If he waits until the end of his extensions, it will push back Spence's next fight. He says its not fair to have Spence wait around, while he makes him wait around.

Brook is starting to sound delusional like Khan. He thinks he is one of the biggest names in boxing now. Claims he exposed GGG, and lifted GGG off his feet with one punch. Guess I missed that. I saw Brook win one round and run the other four before being stopped. Both him and Khan seem to think being stopped by Canelo and GGG has boosted their standing somehow. Both are delusional.

It's all Hearn's fault, he thought he could make Brook into a big star with that fight, he quickly jumped at telling people he was ahead on the scorecards, when in fact he wasn't, it was a majority draw, also has that 5th round finished, he wouldn't have been ahead.

I don't think it's fair on Spence making him wait, at this rate, he probably fights twice this year. He's quite athletic and fit, with his stoppages, he can figh 3-4 times a year.

brook should wait for canelo/chavez winner, he ll make plenty of bucks out of that and he would beat both

I think it is pretty simple from Brook's standpoint. If he is confident he can beat Spence he will fight Spence. If he doesn't think he can beat Spence, he will duck, and vacate the belt. A loss to Spence will definitely cost him money when negotiating with Khan or whoever. He can get over the shame of ducking by claiming his face wasn't healed and didn't want to hold the belt hostage any longer.

A win over Spence will launch his career into a huge payday, at 147 or 154. (I'll be shocked if he fights him though) A severe beatdown from Spence will make it look like maybe he was avoiding Spence all this time, and took the GGG fight only for money, not just being brave.

At 154, I think Lara, Andrade, Jermall Charlo, and Canelo definitely beat Brook. J-Rock, Jermell Charlo, Trout, Vanes M. probably beat him.

I'm a Brit and support the British fighters but Brook is being a dick here. He's bought into the BS Eddie Hearn has been feeding him and now has an inflated sense of his worth. He did well to win the IBF title but has defended against nobodies. He gets into one big fight and LOSES. Now, somehow he thinks he only deserves big money fights and only wants to fight on PPV. In my opinion Brook still needs to earn his stripes and he can go a long way in doing that by beating Spence.

Kell Brook will be 31 years of age in a few months time and he's at the stage of his career where he's looking to make the most of the remaining payday opportunities he'll be receiving for the final couple of years he has to compete at the highest level.

For sure, the Brit would receive a lot of praise from the hardcore boxing fraternity for facing and defeating an opponent of Spence Jr's ilk, but why engage in low-paid tough fights when he could earn much more by sharing the ring against less challenging, more prestigious and more accomplished opposition?

Unfortunately, you can't pay the bills with praise and respect... and the same set of fans that would enthusiastically endorse fighters earning smaller purses for facing top-notch opponents, will almost certainly flatly refuse to dip their hands into their own pockets if the very same set of "risk taking" previously-respected fighters ever experienced financial hardship during their retirement.

Ruthless-RKO wrote:

Badhusker wrote:
Making Spence wait through another extension, after waiting while he fights GGG. Brook is using his 2nd medical extension to negotiate with Khan, who has clearly said he doesn't want the fight. He has no other big fights available, so if he isn't going to fight Spence, vacate so Spence can get another fight lined up. If he waits until the end of his extensions, it will push back Spence's next fight. He says its not fair to have Spence wait around, while he makes him wait around.

Brook is starting to sound delusional like Khan. He thinks he is one of the biggest names in boxing now. Claims he exposed GGG, and lifted GGG off his feet with one punch. Guess I missed that. I saw Brook win one round and run the other four before being stopped. Both him and Khan seem to think being stopped by Canelo and GGG has boosted their standing somehow. Both are delusional.

It's all Hearn's fault, he thought he could make Brook into a big star with that fight, he quickly jumped at telling people he was ahead on the scorecards, when in fact he wasn't, it was a majority draw, also has that 5th round finished, he wouldn't have been ahead.

I don't think it's fair on Spence making him wait, at this rate, he probably fights twice this year. He's quite athletic and fit, with his stoppages, he can figh 3-4 times a year.

Predominantly the big fighters in the pbc fight 0-2 times a year. Errol would love to fight more, just unrealistic at the top of the sport now.